A Christmas gift
by Ancoho
Summary: Horatio is in sorrow about his companion. You may read first the two other stories I wrote about H and his friend, you find them stored in my profile.


Horatio belongs to J.B., no doubt, the idea for this story is mine, also Tinkerbell and some other important protagonists.

A gift for Christmas

Horatio sighed. He hadn't seen the little grey cat since hours. Normally she would be back immediately, hearing him shaking the box with her crackers. She loved them and it was his tool to bring the straying cat back from her strollers through the surroundings. But now – nothing. Slowly he was getting worried about her. Where could she be? It was Christmas Eve and he had planned to sit with her, have some nice things to eat and then maybe listen to some good music (he couldn't decide yet if he wanted to hear the new Jazz CD or one of his old classical pieces, this day wasn't the time for his preferred taste in music, pieces from the Stones). He had been in a good mood this evening, work was done, no papers to look at, not a single unsolved case who could disturb his evening off. Perfect circumstances. But the little furface made all his plans defeated.

He had no choice. The man sighed again. He would have to go out and search for Tinkerbell, otherwise he wouldn't be able to relax this evening. Somehow hesitantly he looked in the different directions. Meanwhile standing in his opened front door he was trying to think like his little companion. Would she have walked to the neighbors garden? Or maybe in the direction of the shore? Searching for some fish and good smelling food? The nearby children's playground? While standing and thinking fate was playing, as it always does – Horatio suddenly heard tyre squealing and a thud, then nothing.

The Lieutenant got pale. Oh no, hopefully she wasn't strolled to the near street. She always was careful and never….Without thinking he ran fast into the direction he had heard the noise. And found a car on the green area in the middle of the road. With one tyre it was standing in the flowerbed. The destroyed plants were decorating the car's front window. Outside stood a woman and in her hands she held – a small grey cat with a white bib. Tinkerbell! Horrified Horatio rushed to the woman. Before he could say anything the woman asked him agitated: "Is that your cat? I tried to avoid her, but I fear I have streaked her with one tyre. I can't see any bruising or even blood, though, and maybe it isn't as bad as it looks. But she isn't moving and I don't know what to do next. Can you help me with it?" Appealing she looked him into his face, searching for his mood and hoping she would get some encouraging by him.

Horatio felt sick with fear that his little cat could have been hurt badly, but he also was a cop and his professional skills fast kicked in. Observing the car and the surroundings he could see that nothing was really damaged except for some flowers and some soiled ground. Alert he looked at the woman. "Did you hurt yourself?", he asked her then. But she seemed unhurt, only a bit excited. "I? Hurt? No.", she said with large eyes. Again she looked at the little cat in her hands, which wasn't moving, but breathing, as much she could see. "Please", she begged again, "the cat needs help, a vet maybe, I don't want her to die."

"Let me first take care of this situation", Horatio tried to calm down the lady (and himself, if he was honest), "I'm a cop and I will call for a cruiser, the colleagues will help us with that." He called the MDPD, explained the situation and said then to the colleague at the other end of the line: "I take the lady home with me, you know my address, I live nearby. You can come then and do what is needed. And please take care of the woman's car, I don't think it has any damage, but you would have to verify that."

"Ma'm" he asked the still shaking woman, "would you please come with me. I'm living a few steps away and this is my cat. She is called Tinkerbell and I really hope that she will be okay. We will look at her in my apartment. My colleagues are going to rule this situation for me. My name is Horatio Caine and I'm with the MDPD Crime lab. Please come with me." He gently took her by the elbow and led her into the right direction. Willingly she went with him, carrying the cat on her arms and searching for a sign of life in the small body.

Arriving his still wide open front door he and the woman moved fast into the apartment, as the little cat began to make low noises. She started to meow miserably, like only cats can do and which made the man and the woman find her a place where she could lie and where they could observe the little animal. With closed eyes she was whining and mourning a bit and Horation sat down on his couch, forgot about the other person in the room and was comforting his companion and petting it, carrying her on his lap. Careful he searched for possible bruises or broken bones. With his long fingers he touched slowly every inch of the little body. He neither found an open wound nor a broken leg, she seemed to be unharmed. But she obviously wasn't feeling well and tried to escape Horatio's grip. He let her to the ground and waited for her actions; Tinkerbell tried to stand up and then began to retch. "She may have a concussion", the woman said. "I think I hit her only gently with one tyre as I tried to avoid the crash. I can't have hit her hard, she wouldn't have survived a harder collision."

Ignoring the humans Tinkerbell slowly made her way to her basket with shaky legs, she laid down on her cushion and felt asleep immediately. Horatio checked if she was breathing without problems. Her breath came deep and seemed normal. Feeling relieved he sighed deeply and let out the breath he was holding unconsciously.

Kind of embarrassed he then looked at the woman. "Um, sorry, I was in sorrow but she seems to get going okay again. How are you? You look pale and shaken, please sit down, I'll get you something to drink? What do you want?" "Well", the woman said, "I may look as pale as you do. Your sorrow is understandable, after all I hurt your friend. By the way, I'm Karen Bliss and I'm not even a trace of delighted of this situation I brought you two in. Please believe me that I'm very sorry about the problems I caused. I would like to drink something and I would prefer some of that wine I can see on your table. You may have planned a nice and happy evening with good food and wine and I destroyed that. I apologize for that. But I'm feeling a bit dizzy now and with your permission I will sit down for a while." Karen abruptly sat down at Horatio's couch and became silent.

The Lieutenant decided that it was time for him to take the action in his hands. He pored the woman a glass of wine, begged her to sit and wait for a while, then he went into his kitchen and prepared the meal he had bought for this evening. It would be enough for the two of them and the food would help to relax the situation also. In almost no time he brought the meat and salad, some bread and the dishes for them. Without hesitating and with a good appetite Karen helped him to eat his Christmas Eve dinner. They both weren't talking much, they enjoyed the meal and in Horatio's living room a suiting mood was settling down. Before they were finished with their meal suddenly Tinkelbell was waking up; stretching and yawning she checked her body and legs if all were working properly. It did and she stood up and walked towards the pair on the couch. She sniffed at Karen's legs and began to purr; she walked to Horatio and rubbed her little head at his leg, then ran into the kitchen, inviting him with loud meowing to follow her. She wanted her food, she had had some exciting events this evening and that was making her hungry.

With a goofy grin Horatio looked happy over to Karen and she said with a smile: "That is the nicest Christmas gift I ever got on Christmas Eve."


End file.
